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Technology Stocks : JDS Uniphase (JDSU) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: b_spiral who wrote (12515)	9/7/2000 12:58:38 AM
From: pat mudge	Respond to of 24042

On a more positive note, Enron's going gangbusters: <<<< September 6, 2000 Enron Pres: Broadband Bandwith Business Is Booming By JAMES COVERT Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK -- Enron Corp.'s (ENE) venture into broadband telecommunications services is racing full-steam ahead, and the company is on track to become the world's biggest trader and manager of long-distance information network capacity and content, president Jeffrey Skilling said Wednesday. Enron, a Houston-based energy trading company, has been moving quickly over the past eighteen months to create a tradeable wholesale commodity out of long-distance data communications. It has bought space on fiber optic communications networks for wholesale marketing to companies in need of "broadband" information infrastructure to transmit data over long distances. Services include the marketing and trading of capacity on long-distance information networks for limited amounts of time to ensure clear, uninterrupted connections. More than 5,000 miles of fiber route are complete, and another 9,000 are under construction, Skilling said. "It's our objective to become the world's largest buyer and seller of bandwidth, and the world's largest provider of premium broadband delivery services," Skilling told an energy conference in New York. "This is taking off, and it's going to be everything we thought it would be." This year, the company's EnronOnline unit has traded more than 30 different products related to bandwidth capacity on its growing long-distance network of 14 city pairs in the U.S., Skilling said. At these cities, the company is establishing "pooling points," where local distributors will deliver the data to retail customers through digital subscriber lines, cable networks, or other formats, Skilling said. "We'll use any format that's available to distribute," Skilling said. "It doesn't really matter, because it's just raw data we're moving." Enron has done deals with 17 different counterparties so far, and another 60 customers are reviewing contract terms for bandwidth trades, Skilling said. "We're doing five or six bandwidth transactions a week," Skilling said. Enron has also signed a deal with Viacom Inc.'s (VIA) Blockbuster Inc. (BBI) unit to distribute movies to retail customers through high-speed telephone lines. The 20-year, exclusive worldwide agreement has distribution partners that include Verizon Communications (VZ), Qwest Communications (Q), and SBC Communications Inc. (SBC). But Enron is also pursuing agreements with large cable companies, Skilling said. The venture aims to make its services available in several U.S. markets by the year's end, Skilling said.